Pete Recommends – Weekly highlights on cyber security issues, December 16, 2023 – Privacy and cybersecurity issues impact every aspect of our lives – home, work, travel, education, finance, health and medical records – to name but a few. On a weekly basis Pete Weiss highlights articles and information that focus on the increasingly complex and… Continue Reading
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Category Archives: E-Records
5 Takeaways From Inside the Overturning of Roe v. Wade
The New York Times – A Times investigation [read free] reveals the behind-the-scenes story of how the Supreme Court abolished the constitutional right to abortion. “By the time the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade last year, a draft of the ruling had been leaked to the press and the outcome was anticipated. The story… Continue Reading
Marketing Company Claims That It Actually Is Listening to Your Phone and Smart Speakers to Target Ads
404 Media: “A marketing team within media giant Cox Media Group (CMG) claims it has the capability to listen to ambient conversations of consumers through embedded microphones in smartphones, smart TVs, and other devices to gather data and use it to target ads, according to a review of CMG marketing materials by 404 Media and… Continue Reading
Why It’s So Hard to Search Your Email
The Atlantic [read free]: “Searching your email can sometimes feel basically impossible. Typing in a mix of search terms goes only so far. At some point, it almost feels personal, like the software is purposefully not showing you a conversation you absolutely remember having…An email inbox can’t quite be searched in the same way, because… Continue Reading
FCC Closes ‘Lead Generator’ Robocall Loophole & Adopts Robotexts Rules
December 13, 2023 — “The Federal Communications Commission today adopted new rules to further protect consumers from scam communications by directly addressing some of the biggest vulnerabilities in America’s robotext defenses and closing the “lead generator” robocall/robotexts loophole. The new rules allow blocking of “red flagged” robotexting numbers, codifies do-not-call rules for texting, and encourages… Continue Reading
AI – Agencies Have Begun Implementation but Need to Complete Key Requirements
Artificial Intelligence: Agencies Have Begun Implementation but Need to Complete Key Requirements, GAO-24-105980 Published: Dec 12, 2023. Publicly Released: Dec 12, 2023. “Artificial intelligence is rapidly changing the world and could improve government operations. For example, federal agencies can use AI to analyze drone photos and large datasets. But safeguards are needed to manage AI… Continue Reading
Leading scholarly database listed hundreds of papers from ‘hijacked’ journals
Science: Scopus is giving suspect, non–peer-reviewed papers unwarranted legitimacy, researchers say: “Scopus, a widely used database of scientific papers operated by publishing giant Elsevier, plays an important role as an arbiter of scholarly legitimacy, with many institutions around the world expecting their researchers to publish in journals indexed on the platform. But users beware, a… Continue Reading
Plagiarism doesn’t need AI to thrive online
Vox – A YouTuber’s deep dive on plagiarism tries to make viewers care when creators steal content: “Copying has always been a part of internet culture. Sometimes it’s ethical, sometimes not. It’s almost always incentivized: Once social media began reshaping online life, copying became a go-to tactic for getting views. When copying crosses an ethical… Continue Reading
Apple admits to secretly giving governments push notification data
Ars Technica: “Governments have been secretly tracking the app activity of an unknown number of people using Apple and Google smartphones, US Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) revealed today. In a letter demanding that the Department of Justice update or repeal policies prohibiting companies from informing the public about these covert government requests, Wyden warned that… Continue Reading
A Bold New Plan for Preserving Online Privacy and Security
IEEE Spectrum: “…We’re all hoping that companies will keep us safe, but it’s increasingly clear that they don’t, can’t, and won’t. We should stop expecting them to.” To ensure that cloud services do not learn more than they should, and that a breach of one does not pose a fundamental threat to our data, we… Continue Reading
Your car is probably harvesting your data. Here’s how you can wipe it
The Record: “It is so easy to vacuum up private data from vehicles that Andrea Amico taught his daughter how to extract text messages from her mom’s car when she was only eight years old. Blue-haired and an engineer by training, Amico has a hacker’s mentality, which has manifested in giving drivers a way to… Continue Reading
Automakers’ data privacy practices “are unacceptable”
Ars Technica: “US Senator Edward Markey (D-Mass.) is one of the more technologically engaged of our elected lawmakers. And like many technologically engaged Ars Technica readers, he does not like what he sees in terms of automakers’ approach to data privacy. On Friday, Sen. Markey wrote to 14 car companies with a variety of questions… Continue Reading
